The Complexity of Food Health Related Choices

Giampietro M.; Bukkens S.G.F. · Healthcare and Food: Epistemology, Ethics and Law (2026) · DOI: 10.1007/978-981-95-5899-5_3

Resumen

Our perception of the quality of food is determined by various factors: taste, price, convenience, safety, as well as the presumed effects on our health, our environment, animal welfare, our cultural identity, the local economy and distant countries/ecosystems (through imports——fair trade, tropical deforestation, etc.). Accordingly, the information required to make an informed choice related to food health not only belongs to two distinct dimensions, a descriptive one (narratives about causality) and a normative one (value-driven moral stands), but also refers to perceptions involving different levels and scales of analysis (human/animal body, household, farm, community, local ecosystem, nation, ecosphere) each of which involves different stakeholders (interest groups). We must choose among contrasting legitimate narratives about ‘the best thing to do’ while facing a large dose of uncertainty about the consequences of our choice. Who decides? How? Who pays for the consequences (the best choice for whom)? How can we control the quality of this process of decision-making? Addressing these questions reveals the naiveness of the ideas that food should be considered a mere commodity, that uncontested knowledge about food health exists, that consumers make rational choices, and that there exists a single best practice. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2026.

Instituciones: Universidad Científica del Sur